A teen paddleboarder had a "close encounter" of the shark kind while in the water off the coast of Santa Catalina Island over the weekend, but luckily the only victim was her board. more ›

Investigators are probing a blaze that broke out late Tuesday night aboard a large sailboat off the coast of Malibu. One man was aboard the vessel, which was anchored about a quarter-mile off Paradise Cove, according to City News Service. He was able to flee the fire in a dinghy. more ›

Officials from multiple agencies held a press conference this evening to share information about the arrest of a suspect in a series of 53 arson fires set in the city of Los Angeles, as well as in Burbank and West Hollywood, over the past four days. more ›

At a press conference that got underway shortly after Noon today, the Joint Task Force investigating the rash of arson fires that have been set over the last four days in Los Angeles announced that the "person of interest" has in fact been arrested, but the investigation remains ongoing. more ›

A small brush fire, covering an estimated 5-7 acres, is burning in the Lake View Terrace area, say the Los Angeles Fire Department. 65 firefighters from the LAFD, as well as Angeles National Forest ground personnel and the Los Angeles County Fire Department--with a helicopter and handcrew--are working on the blaze, which is being fanned by 5 mph breeze. more ›

Two brush fires in two counties keep local firefighters on their feet today, with a small blaze in Malibu, and a larger one in Brea. The Malibu fire broke out a bit before noon, according to L.A. Now, and was handled by Los Angeles County Fire, who had the blaze out by around 1:15 p.m. with two acres consumed and no structures threatened. more ›

Yesterday's devastating 6.3-magnitude earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand has impacted many people world-wide, and now Los Angeles is reaching out with assistance in the form of the Los Angeles County Fire Department’s 74-member California Task Force 2 team, who deployed in the evening to assist in the rescue and recovery efforts there. This morning, the official death toll remains at 75, however hundreds of people remain missing, buried beneath the rubble. more ›

Los Angeles County Fire Department firefighters arrived on the scene of a sinkhole that opened up late yesterday afternoon in the 13900 block of Coteau Drive in Whittier, according to the Whittier Daily News. At first thought to be due to rain-saturated ground, the hole began to open around a parked car at about 5 p.m. Tuesday, reports KTLA. more ›

A section of the Angeles Forest Highway will be formally dedicated this morning in honor of the two Los Angeles County firefighters who lost their lives on duty battling the Station Fire. more ›

Thanks to cool temps overnight and calmer winds, firefighters have been able to achieve 62% containment of the Crown Fire that has been burning in the Palmdale area since Thursday afternoon, according to LA Now. more ›

The hills have been lush with green this Spring, thanks to more rain than ever (okay, more rain than the past three years). But that means when things dry up this Summer, it's more fuel for a wildfire to burn through, according to the Daily News. 34,000 homes within Los Angeles are in brush areas and inspections to make sure homeowners have cleared land have already begun. In areas where the county works, some 40,000 homes are located in brush areas. more ›

Unaware of how serious a threat the advancing fire posed, two LA County firefighters were killed during last year's massive Station Fire when their truck fell 800 feet off the side of a fire road south of Acton. A report released yesterday by the Los Angeles County Fire Department "blames poor communication as a major factor" in the August 30th deaths of Arnaldo Quinones and Tedmund Hall, according to the Star-News. more ›

Aid from the US is mobilizing and heading to Haiti to help the earthquake-ravaged nation with search and rescue operations, and teams from both Los Angeles and Orange counties are part of the effort. more ›

Fire Capt. Tedmund Hall and Firefighter Specialist Arnaldo Quinones, the two Los Angeles County firefighters who lost their lives battling the Station Fire, were honored today in a public memorial held at Dodger Stadium. The men were remembered for, among other things, “served with dedication, courage and, during their last alarm, with absolute bravery and selflessness,” said Los Angeles County Deputy Fire Chief John Tripp, according to LA Now. more ›

A lot of thank-yous, hugs and gratitude has been given to firefighters this past week in light of the recent wildfires, most notably the Station Fire. With that said, Sunset Strip Music Festival organizers today announced that they are allowing free admittance to Los Angeles City and Los Angeles County Firefighters with proper ID into the festival on Saturday when the street closes. Some 40 bands will take the outdoor and indoor-club stages from 2 p.m. to around 9 p.m. (with shows continuing indoors until around 2 a.m.). Headliners include Ozzy Osbourne, Korn, Pepper, The Donnas, Fishbone, Unwritten Law, Kottonmouth Kings, Shiny Toy Guns, Shwayze and LMFAO (see a full list here). Tickets are selling at $39.50 pre-sale, $50 at the door. more ›

The Station Fire has slowed significantly, but that doesn't mean its impact is any less significant as it continues to burn through ravines full of dry brush and vegetation on its eastern front. As of yesterday, the total acreage the blaze has consumed reached 157,220 according to the LA Times, and is burning "a safe distance from populated areas." more ›

On Sunday word came that two Los Angeles County firefighters lost their lives while on duty battling the Station Fire. Captain Tedmund "Ted" Hall and Firefighter Specialist Arnaldo "Arnie" Quinones tragically lost their lives when they were overrun by a fast moving fire which approached where they were working at Fire Camp 16. The vehicle in which the firefighters were driving towards safety went over the edge of a mountainside road. "Their untimely death on August 30, 2009 has been a shock for [the] Department," adds the LACFD. more ›